From a New York Times editorial, 10/17/06:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/opinion/17tues1.html

And the Winner Is ... Me

Voters in Ohio can be forgiven if they feel they have been beamed out
of the Midwest and dropped into a third-world autocracy.

The latest news from the state's governor's race is that the
Republican nominee, Kenneth Blackwell, who is also the Ohio secretary
of state, could rule that his opponent is ineligible to run because of
a technicality.

We'd like to think that his office would not ultimately do that, or
that if it did, such a ruling would not be allowed to stand.

But the mere fact that an elected official and political candidate has
the authority to toss his opponent out of a race is further evidence
of a serious flaw in our democracy.

Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee, is leading Mr. Blackwell by as
much as 28 points, according to one recent poll.

In their panic, some Blackwell supporters have hit on the idea of
trying to prevent the election from occurring.

One of them filed a complaint alleging that Mr. Strickland, who is a
member of Congress, does not live in the apartment where he is
registered to vote.

Mr. Strickland owns a condominium in another part of Ohio, and the
complaint alleges that he actually lives there.

If Mr. Strickland was not a qualified voter, he would be prohibited
from running for governor.

The complaint itself is without merit.

No one disputes that Mr. Strickland lives in Ohio, or that he is
registered.

The only issue is which of his two homes he chose to register from,
and the law gives voters with multiple homes broad discretion in
choosing among them.

What is more interesting, and troubling, is the way the complaint is
proceeding.

The county board that heard it broke down 2 to 2, on party lines,
about whether to hold a hearing.

In the case of a tie vote at the county level, complaints like these
get forwarded to the secretary of state's office to be resolved.

Mr. Blackwell says he has designated his assistant secretary to handle
duties that could conflict with his candidacy.

But passing these matters on to a subordinate who is a political ally
and owes his job to the candidate hardly removes the conflict.

Election administration should be removed from partisan politics, in
Ohio and everywhere else.

Decisions like these should be made by nonpartisan bodies or, failing
that, by people who do their utmost to insulate themselves from
partisan politics.

In 2004, Mr. Blackwell chose to become co-chairman of President Bush's
Ohio campaign, and then issued rulings that helped the campaign.

Now we have the even more bizarre prospect of Mr. Blackwell, or his
deputy, potentially participating in the baseless disqualification of
his opponent.

We are confident it will not come to that.

But however this particular case is resolved, it underscores the need
for Ohio, and other states, to find a way to administer elections that
is insulated from partisan politics.

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Didn't know that this was possible in the United States of America,
did ya. Well, think again.

Harry